Monday, 30 April 2012

Eating batteries

Not me, my camera! My best laid plans to take a photo of my school lunch everyday was ruined by a battery eating camera. So no pic of my Shepherd's pie. Tomorrow I hope normal service will resume and I will begin my blog properly, no more false starts!

Every post will have a pic and a list!

Food-o-meter- Out of 10 a rank of how great my lunch was!
Mouthfuls- How else can we judge portion size!
Courses- Starter/main or main/dessert
Health Rating- Out of 10, can healthy foods top the food-o-meter?
Price- Currently £2 I think, its all done on a cashless catering card
Pieces of hair- It wont happen, will it?

83 comments:

I've put your blog in my RSS feed so I can follow what you're eating. It doesn't seem nearly enough for a growing kid! When my daughters were in primary school (they're 16 and 18 now and have nearly finished high school) they came home for lunch so they could eat as much as they wanted.

This is brilliant what you are doing. I have never been impressed with what I have heard my children say about school dinners. When they where younger I would make them packed lunches mostly. Now they are responsible for making their own packed lunch, occasionally they will have school dinner . School dinner quite often these days seems to be a slice of pizza. I am not surprised they are always hungry when they get home from school! I hope that your blog will get noticed by the politicians and some big changes will be made.Good school lunches to a reasonable price is possible. We mostly had excellent school lunches where I grew up in Sweden , also it was free for everyone.

I currently teach English in Japan, and last year I did a similar thing as you're doing now. I took pictures of my school lunches every day, but it was to show people in the UK how amazing the Japanese school lunches are. Perhaps you could take a look and show your school what kids on this side of the world are getting. It might inspire them!! The site is http://hamiinjapan.wordpress.com

I suppose this is somebody's idea of how to prevent or treat possible childhood obesity, i.e. feed them insufficient food!

Inadequate food - lacking in essential nutrients and also low in calories - seems a sure way to create ill-health, hunger and lack of energy, none of which will prevent or help to reduce obesity, if indeed obesity is a problem in your school.

Maybe it's all in fact a cost-cutting exercise that the holders of the purse-strings think they can get away with because their victims are 'only' primary school children.

Well done sweetheart.. this is very interesting and eye opening! I can barely remember my school dinners but there were cheese burgers, chips and lots of baked beans. I am sorry to see that things haven't improved but actually seem much worse. I used to love cooking at home when i was a kid, maybe you could try that too? by the way.. what's wrong with peas??

Love the battery-eating camera - I have to keep my batteries out of my camera and only use them when I want to take pictures. No idea why, but my camera *is* about 9 years old.

I can't believe how different school meals are to what they were when I was a primary school child in the Highlands in the 1970s! We used to have plenty of food on a real plate and kids could always go back for more. Most of us also spent lots of time running around outside so we burnt it all off. There were a very few fat children, but I'm assuming they either had metabolism problems or got *loaded* with food at home. No excuse for providing the rest of the children with a starvation diet like your school obviously does now!

In the Netherlands kids will either go home for lunch or eat a packed lunch at school. It takes me half an hour every evening but I make their packed lunches myself. So I know what they eat and if there are any complaints I can take them into account. In some families the children will make their own packed lunches before they go to school Do you think that would work for you? Do you have to eat the school lunch?

Eszi, there is the option to take packed lunches in to school in Scotland, but the point of this blog is to point out how unhealthy the food being provided within schools is. Some children from low income families will be allocated "free school meals", this was designed to ensure those kids were getting at least one nutritious meal per day. A school dinner should provide 1/3 of the daily calories required by a child and there are National Guidelines and acts of parliament in place that should be ensure this slop isn't being fed to kids. There is something called "The Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition)(Scotland) Act 2007)" and one of the key aims of it is the "Scottish Ministers and the local authorities (i.e. the regional Council who run the schools) job to ensure that all schools are health promoting environments".

I live in Spain,I´m a twelveyear-old girl, and I think is terrible your school´s food. I´ve my blog for 2 months were I talk about children nutricional practice.If you want to watch it and making me some comments you can here: www.elconsultoriodepaula.com and I´ll respond you in english and in spanish

I live in Spain,I´m a twelveyear-old girl, and I think is terrible your school´s food. I´ve my blog for 2 months were I talk about children nutricional practice.If you want to watch it and making me some comments you can here: www.elconsultoriodepaula.com and I´ll respond you in english and in spanish

Wazzup VEG!1Keep writing i love youre blog!!! In we have a buffet in finland. We can take as much as we like to, but we have a limit if there is something good like fishfingers. Our schoollunch is free and pretty healty.

Martha, I have just heard you on Radio 4, Well done you were fab!! Your blog is fantastic, please keep going!! You write really well, that keeps people interested. I will keep reading. Good luck with future blog and your career!! Louis (social worker, Devon, age 42!!)

two things (as a secondary school teacher):1.-I think you are doing a great job2.- Your meals are awful.

Send two links of the menus of two schools that are near my placeLive in Asturias (North of Spain)Maybe you can suggest them next academic year.http://web.educastur.princast.es/cp/severo/http://web.educastur.princast.es/cp/alfonsoc/

I absolutely hate having to sometimes let my kids have school lunches. They taste awful (I have tasted them), they look worse and they are a silly price. Milk is extra and is no more than a splash in a cup. Wish I could take photographs every day of the appalling food the kids at our school eat. If they come home for lunch or have packed they are never hungry on their return at the end of the day. Always they are starving if they have had a school lunch. National disgrace. Well done Martha.

hey veg,i´m tina from germany! i´m a mother and constantly fighting for a good organic meal in the school of my daughter. it´s so hard and doesn´t even work yet. town doesn´t spend money for that and parents can´t because some of them are in a bad financial situation. i really would like to stop that and i´m working on that a lot. thank you for giving a picture to your situation...it´s important for every child and even for every adult to eat healthy and concious... just to be strong in concentration AND soul. go on!!! change!

Good day! I am from Spain, Basque Country and I'm thirteen years old. I send you this post because my English teacher told me. I think you are very lucky. In my school I always eat the same: vegetables, fish and fruit. More or less it costs 3 euros each meal. And you will say, why am I complainig? Because you eat ice-cream, lasagna... And that is OK! One greeting,XXXX

Good day! I am from Spain, Basque Country and I'm thirteen years old. I send you this post because my English teacher told me. I think you are very lucky. In my school I always eat the same: vegetables, fish and fruit. More or less it costs 3 euros each meal. And you will say, why am I complainig? Because you eat ice-cream, lasagna... And that is OK! One greeting,XXXX

Good day! I am from Spain, Basque Country and I'm thirteen years old. I send you this post because my English teacher told me. I think you are very lucky. In my school I always eat the same: vegetables, fish and fruit. More or less it costs 3 euros each meal. And you will say, why am I complainig? Because you eat ice-cream, lasagna... And that is OK! One greeting,XXXX

Good day! I am from Spain, Basque Country and I'm thirteen years old. I send you this post because my English teacher told me. I think you are very lucky. In my school I always eat the same: vegetables, fish and fruit. More or less it costs 3 euros each meal. And you will say, why am I complainig? Because you eat ice-cream, lasagna... And that is OK! One greeting,XXXX

Good day! I am from Spain, Basque Country and I'm thirteen years old. I send you this post because my English teacher told me. I think you are very lucky. In my school I always eat the same: vegetables, fish and fruit. More or less it costs 3 euros each meal. And you will say, why am I complainig? Because you eat ice-cream, lasagna... And that is OK! One greeting,XXXX

Good day! I am from Spain, Basque Country. I'm twelve years old. I send you this post because my English teacher told me. I like your blog. I think that you are doing a good blog talking about your school food.

Hi Martha,First of all congratulations to you and your family, for this initiative!I am a mom of two Spanish children, especially Catalan. The problem you pose is very hard.It is outrageous that children aged human growth, see diminished nutrient intake as essential to their development and growth.According to OMS "(..) It is estimated that malnutrition contributes to more than one third of infant mortality. (..) In the world there are about 20 million children under five with severe malnutrition, which makes them more vulnerable to disease and death (..) "Why not learn from this!Thankfully, this problem does not exist in the cafeteria of my children. At school, parents can go Any day to try the menu of our children. Besides having a direct communication channel, through a blog, with staff serving in the first instance to our children.Today, all these advantages are at risk because of economic management by the Generalitat of scholarships granted to high school. It is the dog chasing its tail, as the Generalitat does not pay the scholarships awarded, the successful tenderers, including attending to my children, must advance the money, money that never comes, and that day by day increases the debt, so the family business that bears the school's cafeteria is endangered!Thanks for everything and get my full support.Kisses.LUZ

Martha you are an inspiration, bless you for being upfront and honest and not afraid to speak up. A true warrior, your dad must be very proud :o) Great work and keep going as there is a bright future ahead for you young lady.All the very best to you wee'n!X

You are definitely an inspiration! My daughter will also be turning 9 next month, and I am going to show her through your blog, how important it is to voice your opinion about what matters and how we all have choices based on our beliefs. You would think that healthy eating is the norm, but it is amazing to see how other people eat! Fascinating, really. I just discovered the world of bento-making recently, and have been inspired to freshen up my own girls' lunches not only because it is healthier, but also because it is a lot of fun to make! Check it out, and I hope it inspires you too! http://funlunchbox.com. Good work! : )

I love your blog! Here in America (we're out for summer now), we have AMAZING school lunches. Homemade cookies and cake, the best chocolate milk, good spaghetti, cheeseburgers, and almost everyday we either have mashed or some type of fried potatoes. We usually have either peaches or strawberries, too.

Martha you're blog is so sweet and inspiring it brings tears to my eyes! :)Where I grew up here in Canada we do not have cafeterias in our elementary schools, everyone is expected to bring their lunch or would walk home for lunch if you lived close by (which is what I did). I was very lucky that way and got to watch the Flintstones while I ate lunch :)Keep up the great work!

Hi, sweet Martha, congratulations for your ideia!! It's really great what you've done! As Jamie Oliver said, you are a very clever girl indeed! I'm from Brazil, but I lived in Glasgow in 2000. When I was there I worked as a volunteer in a public school for disabled children and I remember that the first time I saw the kid's lunch I got completely astonished because they eat only junky food! Such as like crispies, chips, soft drink and chocalate bars. And because of this its so good that a girl so young like you are aware of the necessity of having a healthier diet and more because you had succeed in pressing the local government to chance the menu.xxxLucimara Nunes

I just found your blog today and want to encourage you not to stop. Your candid and clear insights into the ways the little things in lofe can affect us are very insightful and have helped me to look through a less clouded lens. Please do keep it up, photos or no.You can take picture of anything. But SEEING is a gift, and it can be learned. Be a role model. Teach on. Write on!!

Amazing story found it on gizmodo.com... remember that when the man beats you down... zap him back with super love! in other words keep up the good fight and never let anyone tell you otherwise you are an inspiration, one that i plan to share with my children!

Awesome Blog Veg. Way to make the world notice how your town council and school officials are failing children with unhealthy meals. Not just in England, but around the world.You are a role model. You may also need to get an agent and a manager!!!!WE are tweeting, sharing, plus1ing, facebooking your story and more.The free world does not like anyone censoring 9 year old girls.You will easily be over 10 million hits by the end of the day. Congratulations!

Yes, Veg - what Deflagration and others have said. Don't stop commenting on what you are being fed simply because you can't photograph it. And while you're at it, insist that if they don't allow you to use a camera in school, they prohibit cameras for EVERYONE. Fair is fair.

Sorry to hear they're making you stop taking pictures of your dinners. Your blog is brilliant and really interesting, I hope you continue blogging even without the pictures. I'm a librarian and a researcher so I read lots and lots of blogs, and yours is way more interesting than most of those!

Loving the story about this blog, Government wants youngsters to get involved in their community and then the Local Council takes the hump then is forced to back down because they were given "Food for Thought"

Veg, just to let you know, I decided to write the Argyll and Bute Council this message in support of your blog, as I have found it to be very substantial in making people aware of what their children are being fed at school;

Hello, I am writing you today to urge you to rethink your decision to forcibly stop this blog that has not only helped your school district by putting healthier foods in front of our children, but has helped Americans take notice of what their kids are being fed while at school.

I realize this is America, home of the whopper Jr. with fries for lunch, but I, along with many other health-conscious parents coordinate with whoever my child is spending his days with while I am at work to ensure he gets proper nutrition and none of this nutrient-void garbage our children are being fed.

Please understand that this type of criticism (NeverSeconds blog) is not meant to attack your school system, but to improve it.

If this 9-year-old has managed to open peoples eyes across the country to a condition of neglect in a very important aspect of our children's lives, we should not just close our eyes again and ignore the problem as it never existed.

The problem illustrated by this blog is that the food given to our children is sub-par, and we must not simply throw a veil over information like that and call it good!

America is waking up to an unhealthy surprise thanks to all this lobbying by big corporate food companies, marketing oreos and cheetos to our kids... America is waking up and realizing that we're unhealthy, fat and overly-medicated. Please allow this child to continue blogging, as it would be a great statement from you and a great service to the children of America and maybe even the rest of the world.

Let it be known that you did not hinder the progress of mankind in the department of school lunches! ;)

Martha this is genius! You're so smart and independent and it's great you're getting involved in something as important as this. Maybe we'll be hearing your critiques of Jamie Oliver's dishes in the future! (: Keep up the fantastic work, this is a real inspiration. (: x

I just read your intire blog and i love it!In Holland our kids dont get lunches at school they take it by themselfs.

I also read in the newspaper they tell you not take pictures of your lunch...That food is going in your mouth isnt it? and if you want to take a picture of what you just about to eat i think you have the right to do it!

What a stupid people they just are to say you cant!

I hope you keep up the blogging!

And there's just something like internetfreedom.....Is that also by your country just like here?

Argyll and Bute council's decision to ban you taking a camera to school has backfired on them completely. Now the whole world knows — from celebrity food critics like Mark Bittman in New York to nobodies like me in Amsterdam, The Netherlands!

Martha has opened the eyes to the public only; because the government who operates the schools already knows what type of meals are being served.The government does not want the public to know this.

We all know that it is cheaper to operate any school with junk food.Healthy nutrition is very expensive to serve.Many poor have to use junk food to survive, as the prices of healthy food costs much more.

Health costs will continue to rise and the governments will continue to sweep these problems under the rug.By investing in healthy nutrition;our students will be healthier and bringing the costs of health care down in the future.

We're so happy someone wrote a blog on this! I came on here and thought the school dinners looked really good, because they were even worse at my primary school! I once found blood and a blue chemical in my chicken :( keep it up Martha, I don't want anyone to suffer like I did! xxxxxxxxxxx

Martha, you made my day when reading news reports and your blog. Eveb if a meal is “fully compliant with nationally agreed nutritional standards” it can be improved. Hence one is allowed to argue for that. More important for those setting up the rules, I am quite certain that the rules that regulate what is considered satisfactory 'compliant with nutritional standards' can be improved. We do not live i a static society but a dynamic such. Most things can be improved. You are a raw model not only for youngsters your age but more important to all so called grown ups, of which I am one. We must improve.You made my day!Stefan, Uppsala, SwedenP.S. When they acted on you, didn't they ever consider constitutional freedom of speech? What legal rights did they really have?

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when i heard about this blog i thought here we go again another person trying to slate school meals, but actual you are quite positive about some of your meals.i work in school meals and it is incredible hard and not as cut and dried as prople think, because of jamie oliver and others there are now so many pointless guidelines about what can and cant be served for school meals and also how much is a portion for the average child.secondly do you choose what you have on your plate as the children i work with do, there is always two choices of main meal and two choices of vegetables as well as salad, fresh bread and two carbohydrates every day but most of the children i serve dont want any veg or salad and only want a small portion of the carbs which means it looks like they dont get very much, id be interested to know if this is the case at your school or if this is just what you get and every child gets the same.i do believe that there is room for improvement in school meals but also there needs to be improvement in the way we teach our children to eat and what we teach them to eat.

Hi Martha,I read about your blog in a newspaper where I live in Melbourne, Australia .Congratulations and well done on the success of your blog and especially raising the money for charity and Mary's Meals.Keep up the great work. You are an inspiring and clever person.Thanks, al.

Dear Veg,Please continue your blog. May I suggest other students photograph your school meals, that you create artistic impressions of your school meals, and form student photography and still-life drawing clubs. In these ways, you can help other do what you are doing: not letting school get in the way of your education.

This blog is funny and interesting I got inspired with your blog and I decided to start my own blog about our roosters at school in the NZ heres a link its interesting http://roostercooper.blogspot.co.nz/

I can't believe how different school meals are to what they were when I was a primary school child in the Highlands in the 1970s! We used to have plenty of food on a real plate and kids could always go back for more. Most of us also spent lots of time running around outside so we burnt it all off. There were a very few fat children, but I'm assuming they either had metabolism problems or got *loaded* with food at home. No excuse for providing the rest of the children with a starvation diet like your school obviously does now! Liz Woods